Christian-Yoga
Studio Owner Claims No Compromise of Faith?- By John Beardsley 1/8/2012

1 Corinthians 3:16 Know ye
not that ye are the temple of God, and [that] the Spirit of God dwelleth
in you?

The studio owner stated they are,"...practicing Christians and have been collectively for over 50 years. We
also own a group fitness studio where we practice a hatha-based yoga.
We do not incorporate any Hindu elements, in fact we use Biblical meditations
and Christian music. Since I started doing and teaching yoga, it has made me
stand more and more in awe of God and how magnificently he designed the human
body is (Ps 139:13). It has also given me countless opportunities to share my
faith and turn people’s eyes to Christ."

Sounds reasonable on the surface does it not? Just a bit of
pragmatic / outcome based thinking right?

Or is the very definition of Yoga at odds with Biblical
Christian beliefs? Well you might want to consider where Hatha Yoga (or any)
comes from:

Kriya Hatha Yoga: including "Asanas,"
physical postures of relaxation, "bandahs," muscular locks, and "mudras,"
gestures, all of which bring about greater health, peace, and the awakening of
the principal energy centres, the "chakras." Babaji has selected a particularly
effective series of 18 postures, which are taught in stages and in pairs.
One cares for the physical body, not for its own sake, but as a vehicle
or temple of the Divine (religious, not just an exercise).
Yoga -
Relaxation or Occult?

No matter how you couch the words to Christianize Yoga you
must first shed some some of the basic tenets of the Christian faith. Consider
the following verses: (Bold emphasis mine)

Romans 12: 1-2 “I beseech you therefore,
brethren, by the mercies of God, that ye present your bodies a living
sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God, which is your reasonable service.
And be not
conformed to this world: but be ye transformed by the renewing of your
mind, that ye may prove what is that good, and acceptable, and perfect, will of
God.”

The large
invasion of the Contemplative Mysticism into Bible believing churches and
into our homes did not start yesterday. It has slowly seeped in by way of
teaching things like Yoga and the Martial Arts, supposedly
stripping them of their eastern connections along with a host of other forms of
meditation not rooted in scriptures. However, Yoga is more than
meditation, it's techniques are both of the spiritually and bodily
connected - it is inexorably a form of worship of the Hindu god!

For a Christian to practice Yoga is one of the
most basic violations in disobedience to God and here is more of why:

Etymology – (from Wikipedia there are many
research examples besides)Hatha yoga,
pronounced in Hindi, is also known as hatha vidya or the "science of hatha"
yoga. The word hatha comes from combining the two Sanskrit terms "ha" meaning
sun and "tha" meaning moon. The word "ha" refers to the solar nadi (pingala) in
the subtle body and "tha" the lunar channel (ida). However, when the two
components of the word are placed together, "hatha" means "forceful", implying
that powerful work must be done to purify the body. Yoga means to yoke,
or to join two things together, hence hatha yoga is meant to join
together sun (masculine, active) energy with the moon (feminine, receptive)
energy, thus producing balance and greater power in an individual.

The Yoga most practiced by Christians is Hatha Yoga.
The poses themselves are often depictions of Hindu deities, and the
hand positions mimic the hand positions seen on the statues of Hindu gods. These
hand positions are called mudras and are thought to help manipulate and
channel prana, a supposed divine force or breath of the universe.
Christian Yoga: An Oxymoron?

Exodus 20:3-5 Thou shalt have no other gods before me.
Thou shalt not make unto thee any graven image, or any likeness [of any thing]
that [is] in heaven above, or that [is] in the earth beneath, or that [is] in
the water under the earth: Thou shalt not bow down thyself to them, nor
serve them: for I the LORD thy God [am] a jealous God, visiting the
iniquity of the fathers upon the children unto the third and fourth [generation]
of them that hate me;

2 Corinthians 6:14-18 "Be ye not
unequally yoked together with unbelievers: for what fellowship hath
righteousness with unrighteousness? and what communion hath light with
darkness? And what concord hath Christ with Belial? or what part hath
he that believeth with an infidel? And what agreement hath the temple of God
with idols? for ye are the temple of the living God; as God hath said, I will
dwell in them, and walk in [them]; and I will be their God, and they shall be my
people. Wherefore
come out from among them, and be ye separate, saith the Lord, and touch not the
unclean [thing]; and I will receive you, And will be a Father unto you, and ye
shall be my sons and daughters, saith the Lord Almighty."

Continuing the statement by the Studio owner:

Since I started doing and teaching yoga, it has
made me stand more and more in awe of God and how magnificently he designed the
human body is (Ps 139:13). It has also given me countless opportunities to share
my faith and turn people’s eyes to Christ.

But Psalm 139:14 says, "I will praise thee; for I am fearfully
[and] wonderfully made: marvellous [are] thy works; and [that] my soul knoweth
right well." Connecting how God designed us to Yoga is error, whether one
debates it just for exercise bodily and spiritually
you must pervert your Christianity to yoke with it, redefining
it with Christian words/terms and background music doesn't change it. As for
turning others to Christ, God’s Word alone is powerful to save.

Studio owners continued in their defense:

I believe in God’s
omnipotence and his omnipresence.He designed the power of breath (Gen 2:7)—not a
bunch of yogis 3000 years ago. And yes, the great Creator has the power to take
something misguided man may have begun, and turn it into a powerful instrument
to teach people physical and mental self-control so that they may be
clear-minded to pray and discern the depths of his Word (1 Ptr 4:7).

This is the very definition of deluding oneself if you believe
this. The occult and eastern religions teach variants of what was just said! God
breathed life into man – it was the breath of the TRUE GOD not what Yoga teaches
at all. The verses used are perverted, the Bible says:

Genesis 2:7 And the LORD God formed man [of] the dust of the
ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a
living soul.

1 Peter 4:7 But the end of all things is at hand: be ye
therefore sober, and watch unto prayer.

God breathed life into us, Yoga means to join body, mind and
breath; to get them to work together in harmony! Not convinced? Here's more on
what Yoga breathing techniques mean:

"...Kriya Kundalini Pranayama: the "potential"
technique, is a powerful breathing exercise to awaken powerful latent energy and
circulate it through the seven principal chakras between the base of the
spine and crown of the head. It awakens their corresponding psychological states
and makes one a dynamo on all five planes of existence."
Yoga -
Relaxation or Occult?

- John Weldon and Clifford Wilson wrote in Occult Shock
and Psychic Forces that Yoga is really pure occultism. Hans-Ulrich Rieker,
in his book The Yoga of Light, also warns that misunderstanding the true
nature of Yoga can mean "death or insanity." Another little known fact is that
virtually every major guru in India has issued warnings similar to these; i.e.,
deep-breathing techniques such as the ones taught in Yoga are a
time-honored method for entering altered states of consciousness and for
developing so-called psychic power. [Note: Yoga is one of the basic
means of reaching this altered state of consciousness. And the altered state is
the doorway to the occult. Sir John Eccles, Nobel Prize Winner for his research
on the brain, said the brain is "a machine that a ghost can operate." In a
normal state of consciousness, one's own spirit ticks off the neurons in his
brain and operates his body. We are spirits connected with a body. But in an
altered state, reached under drugs, Yoga,
hypnosis,
etc., this passive but alert state, the connection between the spirit and the
brain, is loosened. That allows another spirit to interpose itself, to begin to
tick off the neurons in the brain, and create an entire universe of illusion.
You've then opened yourself up. It's called sorcery. People are literally
teaching themselves how to be demonized, all in the name of developing one's
full potential.]
Yoga -
Relaxation or Occult?

Again, you cannot separate Yoga from its Hindu sources whether
you speak of the physical or spiritual it is all part of worshipping false gods
and as just demonstrated to reach an altered state of consciousness. I can only
implore any reader to separate / cutoff completely from Yoga or Martial Arts!
- It is impossible to use it in any fashion pleasing to the God of the
Bible the One True God.

They continue to show they are comparable to the rich man once
sucked into the deception and cannot let it go:

In the years my husband and I
were in the ministry we learned how to build family from the disciples we
shepherded.We have taken those same principles and brought them into
our studio.I have had members sob and hug me in gratitude for what
they have found in our studio—family.Something most of them don’t find outside our walls.They feel safe here.They feel like they can take off their armor and
that they are loved and accepted for who they are. Isn’t that the purpose of the
church (his body)--to help the world see Christ’s love?And aren’t we--my husband and I--the body of Christ
(1 Cor 12:27)?

Feelings
can be very deceptive and only God knows the heart Jeremiah 17:9-10 states, "The
heart [is] deceitful above all [things], and desperately wicked: who can know
it? I the LORD search the heart, [I] try the reins, even to give every man
according to his ways, [and] according to the fruit of his doings." However, we
are also taught to judge/measure our walk by what the Bible teaches, earnestly
contending for the faith, following a pattern of sound doctrine. Please read,
Is it Right
to Judge? Are these owners in Christ? Can a believer serve two Gods?

Red herring argument anyone? The Studio owner continues:

I’m afraid you have fallen into the
trap of extremes which all men of God should avoid (Ecc 7:18).Jesus ate with sinners.Paul walked with the Greeks and Romans and learned
enough about their religion to turn them to God.Only the Pharisees avoided such folk.

It is not the extreme for the Christian to read and obey the
Bible, the extreme is the trap of false teachings we are to avoid. Teachers and
practitioners of Yoga and the Martial Arts are playing with spiritual fire!

First and foremost, Yoga is a process of spiritual
unfoldment. Yoga is a 5000 year old system of self-knowledge and
God-realization, the aim of which is unleashing the full hidden potential of
every aspect of the human . . . Yoga teaches us how to harmonize our own
personal existence, as well as to harmonize our individual consciousness with
the greater Self that is God. (http://www.dharmacentral.com/articles/yoga.htm)

There are many testimonials to this but one "Christian" practicing Yoga and
Centering Prayer came to the conclusion the experiences he had was from the
Kundalini energy, because mindless centering prayer brings one into the
same dark realm as Hinduism's Yoga. The "inner adviser" associated with these
practices are demonic. "Even heathen practitioners of Kundalini warn...
"Those who awaken their kundalini without a guru can lose their direction in
life..." From David Cloud's research in Contemplative Mysticism, A Powerful
Ecumenical Bond, page 172. Does this really sound like something we
should be dabbling with at any level?

The use of Ecc 7:18 by the studio owner was perhaps a misquote
but Proverbs 4:26 says, "Ponder the path of thy feet, and let all thy ways be
established." - We establish our path by the Bible. So the argument and logic is
invalid, Jesus and the Apostle Paul taught us to separate
ourselves from the world and any teachings of false gods, they didn't integrate
them! The Bible is crystal clear on God’s feelings for His little
children His jealousy is not without reason!